Dictionary

shield-bearer en · NOUN

Etymology

From Middle English scheeld-berere, equivalent to shield + bearer.

Meanings

1. A person who carries a shield, either a warrior, or a lower-ranking person who carries a shield for a higher-ranking person.
   • The wise king mounted the royal saddle and rode out in style with a force of shield-bearers. 1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 46:
   • “Never have shield-bearers so grim of face ever landed before on out shores!” 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 23:

Forms